The Bank of Industry has shown strength and resilience in the strong socio-economic headwinds generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns, the fall of crude oil prices, and the general fall of business, as it records strong performance in its 2020 financial result.
The bank is Nigeria’s first and the largest Development Financial Institution (DFI) and it was expected to rise to the challenges of its customers and the nation at large.
At its 2020 Annual General Meeting (AGM), held virtually in Abuja, Aliyu Abdulrahman Dikko, Chairman of the Board of Directors, reported that despite the challenging year, Group Total Assets grew from N1.04 trillion to N1.86 trillion between 2019 and 2020.
He attributed the 79.1 percnt increase largely to the successful debt syndications of €1 billion and $1 billion that were concluded in March and December 2020 respectively.
The Group’s Total Equity increased by 15.3 percent from N293.08 in the previous year to N336.48 billion in 2020; while loans and advances, affected by the adverse impact of the challenging operating environment on growth of new loans, grew in 2020 by 1.3 percent to N749.84 billion from the 2019 position.
Also, economic slowdown in the year as well as the various interventions and support initiated by the Bank for its customers, impacted on its Profit Before Tax, which fell by 9.6 percent to N35.54 billion.
Dikko said that rising up to its responsibilities, the Bank, through its partnership with the Federal Government on the National Social Intervention Programme, facilitated the disbursement N2.5 billion and N1.2 billion under the N-Power and Government Enterprise & Empowerment Programmes to 300,011 and 109,039 beneficiaries respectively.
He explained that living up to its reputation as a socially responsible organisation, “it donated the sum of N962 million towards the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) and other initiatives at the Federal and State levels to address the negative impact of the pandemic.
“We also reduced interest rates on all BOI-funded projects by 2% p.a. – from 10 percent to 8 percent – for a 1-year period, and granted additional moratorium of 3 months on principal repayment granted to all beneficiaries.
“Furthermore, the Bank carried out the directive of the CBN, by reviewing and restructuring all projects managed under the CBN Intervention programme with moratorium extension of 3 months (with a possible extension to 12 months) and interest rate reduction to 5% per annum.
“In the same vein, the Bank worked with the Nigerian Content Development Management Board (NCDMB) to implement the reduction of interest rate on all credit facilities under the Nigerian Content Intervention (NCI) Fund from 8% pa to 6% pa, including extension of moratorium period.
In his remarks, Kayode Pitan, managing director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank, noted that like every organisation across the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the bank’s operations and performance in 2020.
But he said the bank continues to be relentless in its mission to support enterprises across the country.
“Now more than ever, we have to stay firm in our course to make Nigerian enterprises more competitive and promote industrialisation in the country.
Our commitment to building a customer-focused organisation is unwavering, and we believe that our activities in the year are proof of such commitment,” he said.
He listed major highlights of the year as including:
• The Bank’s conclusion of a syndicated debt raising deal of €1 billion in the year from international lenders. The transaction had Credit Suisse A.G., Africa Export Import (AFREXIM) Bank, Rand Merchant Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation act as co-Lead Arrangers, Bookrunners and Underwriters. This loan was launched at €750 million, but was over-subscribed and thereafter up-sized to €1 billion.
Looking ahead to 2021, Dikko stated that the Bank’s broad strategy shall mirror that of the Federal Government, in terms of focussing on business recovery, whilst keeping an eye on growth and new business opportunities.
Pitan added, “our main priorities shall be to work with existing customers to ensure their full recovery post-COVID-19. We shall also seek new prospects in need of finance to either set up or scale up their business operations. To facilitate this, we intend to take a multi-pronged approach that will see us improving the quality of service offerings and identifying new business sectors and opportunities towards expanding our target market.”
